Battery manufacturers are continuously seeking ways to produce lighter weight and less expensive batteries without sacrificing performance. To this end, a variety of proposals have been made for composite metal-polymer (e.g., PVC, polyethylene, polypropylene, etc.) grids for supporting (i.e., mechanically and electrically) the active material in the battery plates. In this regard, the polymers have been found to be both lighter and cheaper than the metal they replace and accordingly satisfy both objectives. Geissbauer U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,250 goes one step further and uses microporous polymer plies in oversized starter battery plate grids. While composite metal-polymer grid structures offer both weight and economic advantages, they have not received widespread commercial usage due in part to the unattractive complexity and costs associated with manufacturing such grids.
Accordingly principal objects of the present invention are to provide a laminated, metal-polymer battery grid design particularly suited to commercially practical manufacture and a process for manufacturing same. A further object of the present invention is a laminated, metal-porous polymer battery grid design particularly suited to deep discharge lead-acid batteries. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description thereof which follows.